Elena Dementieva

Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (Еле́на Вячесла́вовна Деме́нтьева, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player.

In 1997, she entered the WTA top 500.

During the year, she became the top-ranked Russian player, a position previously held by Anna Kournikova since December 1997.

Dementieva, however, suffered a shoulder injury in Australia.

To keep playing matches, she altered her serve, adding Slice and changing her motion.

After her shoulder healed, her service motion stayed the same.

She had double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50 mph first and second serves.

She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999.

In 1999, Dementieva represented Russia in the Fed Cup final against the United States, scoring Russia's only point when she upset Venus Williams 1–6, 6–3, 7–6, recovering from a 4–1 third set deficit.

She played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, along with receiving a direct entry into the US Open.

She reached the second round at the Australian Open and French Open, made a first-round exit at Wimbledon and reached the third round of the US Open.

In 2000, she entered the top 20 by winning more than 40 singles matches for the second straight year and earned more than $600,000.

She became the first woman from Russia to reach the US Open semifinals in singles, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Dementieva won the silver medal, losing to Venus Williams in the final.

In 2000, Dementieva was named the WTA Tour's Most Improved Player.

2001 was the second straight year in which Dementieva finished in the WTA's top 20.

In doubles, she won the 2002 WTA Championships with Janette Husárová and was the runner-up in two US Open doubles finals – in 2002 with Husárová and in 2005 with Flavia Pennetta.

In 2002, Dementieva and her partner Janette Husárová reached the final of the US Open and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships.

In singles, Dementieva defeated a top ranked player for the first time, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis 6–2, 6–2 in the quarterfinals in Moscow.

Dementieva reached the final of that tournament, losing to Jelena Dokić.

Dementieva played the most tournaments among year-end top 10 players (27) and won $869,740 in prize money.

At the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, she won her first WTA Tour title, defeating Amanda Coetzer, world No. 9, Daniela Hantuchová, world No. 4, Justine Henin and world No. 5, Lindsay Davenport.

Between 2003 and 2010, she only ended one year, in 2007, outside the top 10.

She is considered to be one of the most talented players never to have won a Grand Slam tournament.

Dementieva was born in Moscow to Viatcheslav, an electrical engineer, and Vera, a teacher—both recreational tennis players.

She was rejected by Dynamo Sports Club and the Central Red Army Tennis Club at the age of seven, before enrolling at Spartak Tennis Club, where she was coached for three years by Rauza Islanova, the mother of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina.

She then moved to the Central Red Army Club with Sergei Pashkov, when she was eleven.

She was later coached by her mother Vera and her older brother Vsevolod.

She has homes in Monte Carlo, Moscow and Boca Raton, Florida.

She won 16 WTA singles titles, reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open and reached seven other Grand Slam semifinals.

Dementieva was also part of the Russian team that won the 2005 Fed Cup.

She won the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Dementieva achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 3, which was accomplished on 6 April 2009.

She announced her retirement on 29 October 2010, after her final match at the 2010 WTA Championships.

Dementieva was the lowest seed (10th) to win the tournament in its 24-year history.

She also won back-to-back titles in Bali and Shanghai, defeating Chanda Rubin in both finals.

On 16 July 2011, Dementieva married hockey player Maxim Afinogenov in Moscow.

The couple welcomed their first child, Veronika, in April 2014.

Their second child, a boy named Sergey, was born in May 2016.

Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petits As in France at the age of 13.